What do You think about The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza (1998)?
Bernie is a bookseller and a burglar.His best friend,Carolyn, is a dog groomer and his part-time henchman.When Carolyn learns of a rich couple who will be gone overnight, they decide to pay the house a visit.But when they get there, they discover thieves have already been there.Luckily the thieves had not been able to get into the safe.So Bernie and Carolyn manage to still get away with some jewelry and a 1913 V nickel.Their next stop is to visit their friend Abel, who is also a fence.This is when things start going downhill. First the lady od the house is found dead and then Abel is also found murdered.To make matters worse, the police think Bernie is involved.So it is up to Bernie to solve both murders to clear his own name.Sharp patter, great characters, lots of twists and plenty of humor makes this a great read or even re-read.It was written in 1980, so it does show its age at times. Bernie talks of putting a stack of records on the turntable, using a pay phone, and watching Family Feud(well I guess that one doesn't work).But overall it stands the test of time.If you have read(and liked)any of the Burglar series, you will like this one as well. If you haven't had the luck to meet Bernie and gang, you are in for a treat.My favorite line from the book is when Bernie is talking to one of Abel's neighbors and tells her, "Good fences make good neighbors."
—David Caldwell
I may just need a break from this series, but it seems to me this is the weakest Bernie title so far.The action is moderately different but so formulaicly similar that I am getting afraid that once you have read one Bernie story, you may have read them all. Kind of a shame, cuz I was so fond of the Keller books, and for that matter the first few Bernie titles were pretty good.I am just wondering - looking forward to the next Bernie books - how many times Block has dipped into the well of the - Guilty / Innocent burlgar who would never hurt anyone, and everyone knows it, but JUST THIS ONCE - everyone figures he went off and killed someone / several someones in the course of his job burgling folks fine trinkets and baubles and whatnot. IN fairness this was written 30 years ago in a bit of a lull for mysteries when the format was in a serious downswing, I just hope the next ones are better.
—Darth
Bernie Rhodenbarr, Gentleman Thief, now with extra added lesbian dwarf henchperson.If you're an old hand with the Burglar series from Lawrence Block you know the drill; Bernie commits a crime, somehow gets framed for murder and then needs to get himself out of a jam by doing the cops work for them whilst cracking wise. It's his lesbian dwarf henchperson that gets him fingered this time and it's a close friend who is the unfortunate corpse, it's fair to say Bernie has had better weeks, but that doesn't stop him from putting a fair few people behind bars and making a tidy profit in the bargain.Block walks you through this latest confession with stunning ease, wit and flair, his modern day Raffles taking great pleasure in discussing philosophy, the finer points of B&E, orthotics, pastries, exotic breeds of dog and rare coins. Once more he provides a lightly entertaining mystery complete with gathering of all major suspects in a closed space whilst he slowly explains the one fact that he and Block kept from the reader to allow for the traditional "dramatic reveal." You just can't really go wrong with Lawrence Block no matter where you turn.
—Tfitoby
